Vast Majority Of Immigrants Are Held In Local Jails For Non-Serious OffensesBy Esther Yu-Hsi Lee

A recent report indicates that the vast majority of immigrants are detained by local authorities on behalf of immigration enforcement officials without ever having committed serious criminal or repeat offenses. The report states that less than one out of nine detained immigrants actually committed serious offenses.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials use “detainers,” or immigration holds to request that local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies detain undocumented immigrants for less than 48 hours (excluding holiday and weekends) before ICE agents can take them to be processed and possibly deported later. Those individuals are let go only if ICE doesn’t assume custody within 48 hours.
The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) data compiled by Syracuse University indicates that 10.8 percent of detained immigrants qualify as individuals who pose a serious threat to public safety or national security.